The Race Is On...

Between China, India, SpaceX and others...

Within the past week we have seen India's Mars probe exit Earth orbit and successfully transition to its outbound trajectory, China launch its Moon rover set to arrive in a few days and SpaceX put its first commercial satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit.  And here the US government is sitting with its thumb up its keester...

With the hope for US space ambitions firmly in the hands of the private sector SpaceX is our leading hope.  With today's 100% successful launch SpaceX has completed its second of three required successful launches in order to become eligible for US Military and other government agency work.  While SpaceX has a big backlog of commercial work ahead of it, opening up another revenue stream is never a bad thing.  Nor is getting a big satellite to a position about 1/9 of the way to the moon.  Only bigger and better things to come from SpaceX as they will continue to expand and build upon their run of success lately...

Is it so wrong of me to hope for the Chinese rover to impact the Moon at some uncontrollable rate, disintegrating on impact??   At some point if all these entities continue on their courses, SpaceX interests will conflict with Chinese or Indian interests...will the US be strong enough or willing enough to protect its own private enterprises since it no longer seems willing to protect itself or its interests in space??

SpaceX Completes First GTO Mission...

Opting Out...

This is one of the more interesting thought exercises I've seen in a bit and its not some flight of fancy impossibility.  The libertarian streak running through much of the tech industry is a strong one and they're about as fed up with the way things are run as the rest of us.  They, however, create and control the tools by which they can exit from current governmental and societal constraints as well as free the rest of society from having to put up with the trash that is our current ruling class bureaucrats.

As the presenter points out, we are on the verge of the irrelevancy of many governmental functions including currency control and various regulation centered agencies.  The whole idea of "opting out" as is noted, is one that, we, as Americans, have always been fond of so perhaps its no surprise that we look to be the ones pushing this possibility forward.  While it seems like there is no where at this point to "opt out" to (no "New World" to escape to for religious freedom, no new Switzerland to transfer our monies too), technology is opening new methods by which we can pressure those in power to make changes.

If the powers that be wish to keep their best and brightest, they HAVE to change (see the flight of the intelligentsia from Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, etc.)  Perhaps the revolution won't be so bloody...perhaps the pressure exerted by those that can, that do, that make, that create can change our current course.  You could definitely do worse than a bunch of MIT/Stanford alums leading you forward...

The video is worth watching in its entirety and giving serious thought to, whether it comes to pass or not.

SpaceX's Grasshopper--Retired...

Likely to show up in a SpaceX museum that I can imagine will be breaking ground soon the Grasshopper Vertical Take Off and Land rocket has been officially retired by SpaceX.

After successfully reaching a height of 2,440 feet on its sixth test flight and also performing an earlier "divert" maneuver where the rocket moved horizontally away from its launching pad and then return to its exact starting location, the Grasshopper will now become a Wikipedia footnote and static display somewhere.

In truth SpaceX has already begun moving on to the next steps in its process by reigniting the engines of its most recent full rocket launch just before its disintegration upon re-entry and is now moving to test its new methane powered "Raptor" rocket engine in Stennis, Mississippi and launch additional upgraded Falcon rockets to both the ISS and for satellite placement.

Continuing to move forward on all these projects brings Musk's desire for a rapidly repeatable, heavy lift capable and economic lift capacity closer to reality.

Grasshopper Is Retired...

Lego Model of Hayabusa Probe

Legos are not just kids toys.  With their architectural series covering famous buildings (Sears Tower, Frank Lloyd Wright houses, etc.) and legions of dedicated fans around the world making ever more complex projects, Legos have expanded their reach well beyond the Cartoon Network demographic.

A primary example is found with the Lego CUUSOO website where people can vote on projects that Lego may build.

The second Lego product to be produced this way is the Hayabusa Probe.  This Japanese probe was the first spacecraft to fly to an asteroid, land and return a sample of said asteroid to the Earth using an ion thruster for propulsion.

The Lego version looks like a true collectors item and includes a figure representative of the probe's project manager.  This would look great on your desk and is a great way to learn about some of our world's more overlooked space endeavors.

Buy Lego Hayabusa Probe...
Hayabusa Probe Wiki...

Which brings us to the second part of this post and what got me aware of the aforementioned to begin with.  The Lego CUUSOO program has announced that the next model to be produced will be the Curiosity Rover.  Already wandering around Mars, the Lego Rover will look similar to the one pictured here (this was the proposed model, Lego will create the final version).

It appears that geeks all over the world should rejoice and prepare to pilot their own rover around the Red Planet in the very near future!  A collection of these realworld space program related Legos would be cool to see--a great teaching tool for kids and adults as well.

Lego CUUSOO Curiosity Rover page...

Chesley Bonestell

 I first saw his paintings in a book my father has had on his shelf for now over 50 years.  I can't remember which book it was (Conquest of Space or Worlds Beyond I believe) but as a kid these images were likely what sparked my interest in space in general and the instill in me the need for humans to escape our little cradle.  I can still see the faded dust jacket with numerous cracks and tears from frequent reading.

The paintings were and are stunning and stand with anything created in the 20th Century, particularly in terms of influence and wide acclaim.  What I have not known till now is how wide Bonestell's influence was beyond this book of my father's and how often I had viewed his work unknowingly.

Bonestell was a designer on the Chrysler building in NYC, SF's Golden Gate Bridge, worked extensively on the image designs for Citizen Kane (frequently regarded as the #1 film of all time), was the character inspiration for an Ayn Rand character in The Fountainhead, worked as a large scale artist on films such as War of the Worlds and When Worlds Collide and was frequently featured in Life and Scientific American magazines.  And I think we can see from the images how much of an influence he was on films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and many others. 

Its the clarity and realism of the work that stuns me to this day with the paintings looking far more like photographs than anything done by a human hand.  His work inspired many such as Carl Sagan and virtually the entire US space program and is still influencing scientists and artists today.  He also depicted things in his paintings really not discussed or known to the general public decades before they became science fact and not fiction such as binary star systems and the early, molten rock and comet ridden beginnings of our own planet.  Not bad for someone born well before man ever took flight.  Some of my favorites of his paintings are included here and there is a bit more extensive article linked below.

Chesley Bonestell article...